ESPN recently did a “future” power rankings of the NBA trying to guess what teams will look like in three seasons. With all of their young talent and financial flexibility, I went looking for the Detroit Pistons in the top five and thought there was no way they would be outside of the top 10. But I had to read all the way down to 18th to find them.
The Pistons weren’t even in the top half of the league, which seems insane for a team that just made the playoffs around a core of players who are all 24 years old or younger, but this is what ESPN had to say about Detroit’s in the 18th spot:
“This is Detroit's best finish here since 2017, and the Pistons arguably belong higher after Cade Cunningham emerged as an All-NBA anchor during a breakthrough fourth campaign. Detroit has cap flexibility to add around a core of Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson and owns all its picks. Another season in the East's top six should convince us to move the Pistons much higher next year.”
It sounds as though the Pistons are being punished for their epic streak of futility and ESPN needs more than one season to be convinced of their future success.
Detroit obviously made huge leap last season, but prior to that they were the worst team in the NBA over the previous decade, so you can’t really blame ESPN here.
ESPN future power rankings: The Pistons still have plenty to prove
If you asked most Pistons fans, they’d probably put Detroit up near Houston and OKC near the top of these rankings, but we aren’t there yet.
While Cade Cunningham's stardom is now apparent, the rest of the team still has their doubters, from Jaden Ivey trying to prove he can defend well enough to be Cade’s sidekick, to Ausar Thompson proving he can be more on offense, to Jalen Duren showing he can be an elite defender, to Ron Holland showing his shooting touch in Summer League was real.
This team has a ton of talent and promise, but other than Cade, they still have a lot to prove. The team doesn’t yet have a second star and hopes one of these players will step into that role, but until someone does, there are questions.
I honestly don’t know how the Grizzlies are ranked higher, and I have big questions about where the Lakers, Warriors and Clippers will be in three years considering their rosters are already old.
This is all dumb speculation, and I am certainly a Homer, but I am not sure how you look at the Pistons and don’t see them being one of the top teams in three years.